


otium sine officio

by atimi (bertee)



Series: CWRPF: horas non numero [9]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Ancient Rome, M/M, Schmoop, Slavery, implied prostitution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-09-30
Updated: 2009-09-30
Packaged: 2017-11-11 10:10:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/477407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bertee/pseuds/atimi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nobleman!Jared and slave!Jensen finally get some time together. They decide to spend it in bed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	otium sine officio

"You know what I was wondering?"

Jared had no idea what Jensen had been wondering and so hazarded a guess, speaking through a mouthful of grapes, "Whether I should grow a beard or not?"

Jensen laughed, the earlier cup of wine starting to show its effects as he leaned back against Jared's body, far more tactile than usual. "Why would I be thinking about your beard?" He frowned. "Or lack of beard. Or your facial hair in general."

"I think the better question is why would you _not_ be thinking about my facial hair."

Jared suspected the wine had got to him too when he leaned in to brush his stubbly jaw against the freckled skin of Jensen's cheekbone. Nestled in Jared's arms amid the piles of pillows on the bed, Jensen squirmed away at the scrape of bristles and batted ineffectually at Jared's head until Jared gave up and let them settle back on the cushions.

Jensen made a small, happy noise at once more being the recipient of a cuddle but made a bigger, happier noise (which, in Jared's opinion, bordered on sexual indecency) when he bit into a strawberry from the bowl of fruit that lay between them.

"So my beard," Jared began pointedly but lost all his severity when Jensen snorted with laughter and tried not to spit out the strawberry.

Munching it down, he aimed for contrite as he looked up at Jared with big green eyes and apologized, "Sorry, I'll stop choosing food over you. Please, tell me all about your beard."

Jared kissed him, leaning down to lick the last smears of juice off his chin before explaining, "It's really not that important. I grew one when I was away but shaved it off before I got back since I wanted to impress someone." He squeezed Jensen's hip at that and Jensen grinned while he continued, "And now I'm getting kind of bored of shaving every day so I thought I'd ask my trusty..." He floundered for a word to describe their relationship but found the language lacking, "...whatever you are for his valued opinion."

"Well, as your trusty whatever," Jensen said playfully, "I don't have strong feelings on the matter." Jared raised his eyebrows and Jensen defended, "I'm serious. This'll be the first time we've spent the whole night together in years; as long as I know you're here and not dead on a battlefield somewhere, I don't care when you last shaved."

"So romantic," Jared mocked but changed the subject when Jensen's elbow nudged below his ribs. "What were you saying before I started talking about my beard? You were wondering something?"

"Yeah." Legs tangled together, Jensen shifted his body a little so that he was leaning against the cushions, giving them a better view of each other's faces. "I was wondering how you managed to get the whole city to elect you quaestor but couldn't convince Master Purefoy to sell you one slave."

Jared sighed. "I thought I did convince him," he protested. "I figured nine hundred would buy you permanently, not just for one night."

He softened his tone on the last few words, uncertain how far Jensen's light-hearted approach to the situation went. It evidently went further than Jared's since he replied with an easy smile, "Guess I must've picked up some useful skills if I'm worth that much."

Instantly sober, Jared inched closer with the sympathetic murmur, "Jensen..."

"It's okay," Jensen reassured him, more confident about that than Jared was. "You'd have to pay a lot of money to get him to sell me off permanently and there's no way you can do that with your campaign money needing to be repaid." He smiled timidly, eyes dropping from Jared's to the expansive bed they were lounging on. "This was the best compromise we could manage. And before you ask, no, Master Purefoy doesn't hire me out to anybody else. This is a Padalecki special."

His smile became hopeful rather than nervous and even that doubt was pushed away when Jared kissed him. Jensen's lips parted beneath his own and even with the hundreds of kisses they'd exchanged in the three months Jared had been home, he found he still fiercely missed their contact for the brief days they'd been apart. Propping himself up on an elbow, he reached up to cup Jensen's cheek with his free hand and tilted his head to deepen the kiss. 

However, as he leaned further in, prepared to rest some of his weight on Jensen as well as the bed, his face impacted with the pillow and his own palm. He looked over in confusion to see Jensen sitting up beside him, having rolled away at the last minute, and reached out for him with the pouting complaint, "Why d'you move?" His head rested on the cushion and he smiled dopily. "The pillow's soft. Come back to the pillow."

"Pillow's all yours, Jay."

The mattress shifted underneath him and Jared frowned and wiggled when he felt Jensen sitting astride his prone body, some of his weight resting on the back of Jared's thighs. "What're you doing?"

"Giving you what you paid for," Jensen murmured. 

He reached over to dangle a grape in front of Jared's mouth and Jared heard him chuckle when he snatched it from his fingers with his teeth. The grape crunched when he bit into it and the cool flavor on his tongue coincided with the feel of cool hands smoothing over the muscles of his shoulders.

Swallowing the fruit, he tried to roll over, more out of principle than lack of enjoyment. "Dude, you really don't need to be giving me a massage," he protested, held in place by Jensen's legs and weight. "I'm not going to go demand a refund from Purefoy if you just lie here, eat food and fall asleep on me."

"I know," Jensen said with a decisive tone that Jared knew he'd fail to argue against. "But I like doing this. Plus, it'll make you feel good and it'll prove that I can actually do something that doesn't involve food or sex. Please?"

The firm press of Jensen's hands on his oiled back was already making it difficult for Jared to keep up his argument but the 'Please?' cinched it. Relaxing into the softness of the bed, he yielded to Jensen's ministrations but said, "This is only on the condition that I get to do something for you later."

"Talk to me?" Jensen asked hopefully and Jared frowned at why that was delivered like it was such a difficult request.

"Talk to you?" he repeated, baffled. "When do I ever shut up?"

"No, I mean-" The pressure on his right shoulder lessened and he imagined Jensen waving his hand in a vague gesture. "-talk to me about other stuff. Tell me about the war or your family or politics or something like that."

"Politics?" Jared snorted. "Because that's riveting conversation?"

Jensen was quiet for a moment too long. Before Jared could worry too much that he'd somehow offended him, he explained haltingly, "You don't have to if you don't want to. It's just- I don't get to go to the elections and vote, and I don't know anything about what you do." His hands paused on Jared's lower back, thumbs resting above his tailbone. "Sorry, you shouldn't have to explain stuff to me. Just forget it."

He dangled another grape and out of habit Jared ate it from his fingers before trying to eat and talk at the same time, "No, no, it's fine." Looking over his shoulder, he flashed him an apologetic smile. "If you want me to talk, I can definitely talk."

He burrowed a little further into his pillow and groaned in enjoyment as Jensen's hands followed his movement to press deeper into the tense muscles of his shoulders.

"I was elected as quaestor," he began, taking care to speak casually rather than to appear to be lecturing Jensen on his political role. "It's the lowest rung on the ladder but at least it's a rung. We don't take up office until the New Year but there'll be twenty of us looking after the finances here or in the provinces."

"The provinces?" Unconsciously, Jensen squeezed his shoulders harder, failing to hide his concern. "You're leaving again?"

"Nope." He tugged one of Jensen's slick hands forward and dropped a feather-light kiss on the inside of his wrist in reassurance. "I'm staying in the city for the foreseeable. I'm the youngest guy to get the post this year which'll be great for me when it comes to elections for other posts next year but it means that I get to stay put and keep an eye on grain prices instead of going out to deal with one of the province governors."

"Good." 

He knew Jensen was smiling from the happy, relieved tone in his voice and so smiled too, relishing the feel of the heels of Jensen's hands rubbing paths up his spine and between his shoulder blades.

"So you're some political big shot now?" Jensen teased and Jared laughed into the pillow under his head.

"Not yet," he admitted. "But if things carry on like they are now, I should be able to make consul in a few years."

"Who made consul for the coming year?" Jensen asked. "I know I've heard Master Purefoy talking about it but he talks about a lot of things."

"Lucius Caesar and Figulus. But," Jared divulged with a smirk, "word is that Farrell wanted to run for consul this year but the Senate refused."

"They can do that?"

"Yep." Enthused by the talk of political gossip, he continued, "I didn't know either but since I'm a senator now, people have started telling me things. Farrell was governing some Eastern province this year and tried to make it back in time for the elections but the Senate said he was too late and wouldn't let him run. Mostly because the current consuls think he's a dick and I'm not about to argue."

"Master Purefoy knows him," Jensen commented.

Jared panicked.

"Don't-"

"I'm not going to tell him," Jensen assured. "Come on, Jared. I'm a slave; I know how to be discreet."

"I know you do," Jared apologized. "Sorry. I know you wouldn't tell but-" He shrugged, shoulders lifting to his ears. "-you know how it is."

Jensen hmmed in understanding and continued to work skilled hands over Jared's bare back and shoulders. "You don't want any enemies in your first year in office."

"I don't want any enemies at all," Jared corrected. "I want everyone in the whole city to love me and elect me consul in a few years without me having to try."

Jensen's laugh was good-natured and genuine and Jared chuckled too. "I can hope, right?" He changed the subject, wanting to roll over to look at Jensen but lulled into lethargy by the massage. "So you were saying Purefoy knows Farrell?"

"Not that well," Jensen said. "Master Purefoy's had him round for dinner a few times; I think they've got some family connections somewhere."

"They're both rich," Jared muttered. "Farrell seems like he'd make friends with anyone rich enough or ruthless enough to help him out."

He heard Jensen eating some more of the fruit from the bowl as he chimed in, "Whereas you're friends with Master Murray?"

"Shut up," he retorted, lifting his ass up with the playful threat of throwing Jensen off. Jensen laughed again but stayed in position and Jared whined, "I did try to get rid of him. After he sold you off, I told him I'd never speak to him again but then-"

"Two weeks later you were drinking together?"

"More like a week and a half." He sighed. "I have no self-restraint when it comes to Chad."

Jensen sniggered. "I'm not even going to touch that one."

Jared processed his earlier words and wrinkled his nose. "Oh, c'mon, man. I'm not sleeping with Chad. I just can't say no when he wants to hang out. It'd be like abandoning a kitten or something." He tried to picture Chad as a kitten and corrected, "Okay, a narcissistic, tactless, nymphomaniac kitten but still."

"But you're not sleeping with him?"

There was lingering worry in Jensen's voice and Jared pacified him, more seriously this time, "I'm not sleeping with Chad." Guilt stirred in his chest and his shoulders tensed up again with his quiet confession, "But I did have sex with someone else while I was away."

The room was so quiet that he wasn't sure Jensen was still breathing. Noise rose up in the street outside, the usual night-time shouts and skirmishes, but Jensen's weight remained on his legs, preventing him from gaining any extra information by looking at his face.

"Was it-" Jensen swallowed. "Are you still seeing them?"

Jared shook his head. "No. He was one of the younger guys in my legion, but he lives out by the coast and it only was a temporary, last-resort, sex thing. It's not like what I've got with you."

"It's okay."

"I-" He frowned. "Wait, what?"

"It's okay," Jensen repeated, sounding surprisingly sincere. "You were away for four years; I didn't expect you to take up celibacy."

"But-"

"But nothing." He kissed the nape of his neck, lips landing just below his hairline. "I'm fine with it. Honestly."

"And you're not just saying that because you think that you're not worth much to me, or that I should be allowed stupid sex privileges because I'm not a slave, or anything else?"

"Y'know, you're not going to make a very good senator if you call the slavery laws 'stupid privileges'."

"Jensen..." he warned, not wanting him to duck the topic that easily.

"It's not because of that. I mean it, Jared. It was a long time and I'm glad you had some outlet while you were fighting."

Satisfied, Jared settled back down, wriggling on the mattress until Jensen pinned him with his hands and resumed the massage.

He twisted his arm at an awkward angle to retrieve a strawberry from the bowl and popped it into his mouth after asking curiously, "Were you with anyone else while I was away?"

"Outside of my owners? No," Jensen answered, something prickling in his tone. Before Jared could tell him that he didn't need to know any more, he volunteered the extra information, "I didn't sleep with any slaves or anything when you were gone but a couple of Crowe's freedmen were kind of, uh, hands-on."

All of Jensen's work massaging his back felt pointless when Jared was faced with carelessly disclosed revelations like that. He'd run out of words to offer Jensen in response to the things he had to deal with in his everyday life and so rolled over onto his back, aiming for physical rather than verbal comfort. 

He got the physical part right when Jensen overbalanced and toppled onto his chest.

"Oww..."

"Oww?" Jensen propped himself back up and rubbed at his sore chest with a smile. "You've been to a bathhouse before, right? Someone did teach you not to buck off your slave when they're giving you a massage?"

"Yeah but no-one ever gave me any lessons on how to get my 'whatever' to stop massaging and to come lay with me."

"I hear asking works well," Jensen joked but his mockery dissolved into laughter when Jared tickled along his ribs.

He squirmed, rolling off Jared's body onto the mattress and pillows, and caught his breath when Jared stopped the tickle assault and allowed him to settle down. Jensen's head rested on his upper arm and Jared hugged him close to kiss his forehead and murmur, "I know I suck sometimes, but I love you so fucking much."

Jensen's only answer was to twitch his nose against Jared's side, kissing his chest when Jared tried to pull away at the sensation and chided, "Hey, I'm trying to be serious here."

The seriousness didn't fare well when he couldn't even get the words out without yawning and Jensen shimmied up the bed so that his head was resting next to Jared's. "Be serious in the morning?"

"The morning?" Jared groaned. "Jen, this is the first night we've spent in a bed together for years. There needs to be sex."

"There will be sex," Jensen mumbled with a tired grin. "Morning sex."

Jared yawned again. Jensen was infecting him with exhaustion. 

However, that didn't stop him from complaining half-heartedly, "You suck."

Barely staying awake, Jensen managed to look at him with mock-sadness. "I thought you loved me."

"I can love you _and_ think that you suck. I'm multi-talented like that."

"Stop thinking of sucking." Jensen curled in closer, breath synching up with Jared's. "Less sucking, more sleeping."

Jared snuggled up in return, body fitting together with Jensen's as he began the gentle slide into sleep. He was barely holding onto awareness, seduced by the warmth of Jensen's body against him and the comfort of the luxurious bed, when he caught Jensen's sleepy whisper, "Love you too..."

Jared fell asleep with a smile on his lips at the realization that Jensen had never told him that before.


End file.
